An aura of destruction, like a tangible tide, accompanied the figure, whose figure was a blend of moon-white and scarlet, as he stepped through the shattered palace gates, instantly overwhelming all of Su Nian's senses.
She collapsed beside the cold, shattered jade frame, her body wracked with excruciating pain as if it were falling apart. Her soul, weakened by the previous overexertion and the backlash from the connection, teetered on the brink of destruction, making even lifting a finger incredibly difficult. She could only watch helplessly as those eyes, completely consumed by madness and bloodlust, fixed upon her like a ferocious beast eyeing its prey.
There was no scrutiny, no investigation, not even the slightest hesitation. Only the purest, most intense killing intent, amplified to its extreme by the inner demons, remained—to purify this "inner demonic illusion" that had desecrated the dead and interfered with his descent into depravity!
The Immortal Lord Qingxu (perhaps "Demon-Entered Immortal Lord" would be more fitting at this moment) slowly raised his hand. There were no complicated incantations, no earth-shattering feats, only his fingers pointed like a sword, and a point of extremely dark light, compressed with terrifying immortal energy and destructive demonic energy, gathered at his fingertips.
The light, no bigger than a bean, caused the surrounding space to groan in agony, as if it were about to devour even the light itself. It locked onto Su Nian's brow and the sea of consciousness, the core of her soul.
With this one finger strike, she will truly be... annihilated, leaving not a trace behind.
Death has never felt so real.
Su Nian watched as the deadly glow rapidly magnified in her pupils, her mind going blank with extreme fear and the premonition of impending death. Was it going to end? In this strange world, with such an absurd identity?
No!
A strong sense of unwillingness, like the last spark, suddenly ignited in her nearly withered heart!
She can't die like this! She hasn't... hasn't brought him to his senses! She hasn't... figured out what that cross-world link really means!
The instinct for survival overwhelmed the physical pain and the weakness of the soul. In the deepest recesses of consciousness, something was forcibly activated and ignited by this extreme threat of death!
It was a strange resonance generated by the residual instincts of this body (Yun Zhi) after the "Ice Soul Condensation Technique" was pushed to its limit!
It is a faint, almost imperceptible mark left over from when the soul link with Xie Chen broke in the previous life!
It is also Su Nian herself, that "anomaly" soul essence that is not completely bound by this world!
At this moment, the three of them, in their desperate situation, produced a kind of irreplaceable and intense chemical reaction!
"Buzz—!"
A clear, melodious sword cry, seemingly emanating from the very source of the soul, suddenly erupted from the depths of Su Nian's consciousness!
It is not a physical sound, but a powerful sound of spirit and intention!
An extremely condensed, purely formed from her will, unwillingness, and that strange resonant power... an invisible "sword," like the first ray of light breaking through chaos, suddenly burst forth from between her brows, neither dodging nor avoiding, directly meeting that point of destructive gloom!
This was not any known spell or supernatural power, nor even a conscious attack. It was an instinctive, skill-transcending counterattack, born from pushing her soul, will, and all the latent power within her to their limits in a desperate situation!
It is the "Sword of the Heart"! It is the Sword of the Will! It exists between thoughts... a sword that cuts through the mind!
"laugh--!"
There was no earth-shattering explosion, only a very faint, strange sound, like a hot knife cutting into butter.
The dark light that contained the terrifying power of the Demon Immortal Lord fluctuated and twisted violently the moment it came into contact with this invisible "heart sword," as if it had encountered its nemesis! The destructive will contained within it seemed to be "severed" by some purer and more fundamental power, and it collapsed for a moment!
Although the collapse was extremely brief, the "Heart Sword" was annihilated like a bubble in the collision, which even worsened Su Nian's already severely injured soul, causing him to spit out another mouthful of blood.
But this insignificant, futile counterattack did indeed…block that deadly finger strike! Even if only for a fleeting moment!
It was this instant of obstruction and that strange aura of the "Heart Sword" that caused those eyes, so close yet filled with a frenzied, blood-red hue, to suddenly... freeze!
The Demon Immortal Lord's finger, which was about to strike, froze in mid-air.
A crack appeared in the distorted, destructive expression on his face. The boundless madness receded slightly like a tide, revealing a deep, immense... shock and disbelief hidden beneath!
What is that?!
That power was far beyond anything a demonic illusion could possess! That aura... that fleeting sensation...
Is it... the Sword of Intent? A prototype of the Sword of Intent that cuts through delusions and points directly to one's true nature?!
How is this possible?! The Way of the Sword of Intent is incredibly profound, untouchable only by those with pure hearts and unwavering wills. Even he himself spent countless years just beginning to grasp its essence! How could an illusion born from his inner demons possibly unleash the Sword of Intent?! Even if it's only in its most primitive, instinctive form!
Moreover... within that faint yet pure "heart sword," he clearly sensed a trace... a trace that was extremely familiar, so familiar that it made his soul tremble... a primal fluctuation!
It wasn't Yunzhi's... it was another kind... a more ancient, deeper mark, as if it were branded deep within his reincarnations!
Who is it?!
He stared intently at Yunzhi, who lay sprawled on the ground, barely breathing, yet still gazing at him with clear eyes (though filled with fear and defiance).
The chaotic whispers of his inner demons still clamored in his ears, urging him to destroy this "anomaly." But a stronger, more primal doubt and... an indescribable tremor, like a seedling breaking through the soil, stubbornly pushed aside the maddening rocks.
The crimson in his eyes began to surge and fluctuate violently, sometimes as red as blood, sometimes flashing with a struggling inky blackness, and sometimes with fragmented golden light trying to break free of its restraints.
"What...are you?" he asked, his voice hoarse and dry, like rusted metal rubbing against each other, filled with pain and utter confusion. This was no longer the cold interrogation of before, but rather a search that even he himself could not understand.
Su Nian looked at him weakly, at the fierce struggle in his eyes, at the contorted expression on his face. She didn't know why her "Heart Sword" could stop him, nor why he had suddenly stopped. But she could sense that the pure killing intent seemed... to have wavered?
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but could only make hoarse sounds as blood continued to spill from the corner of her mouth.
Seeing her contradictory appearance—so fragile yet bursting with incredible power in dire straits—the confusion in the eyes of the Demon Lord intensified.
He slowly, very slowly, squatted down.
This action slightly reduced the terrifying pressure emanating from him, but it also brought another kind of suffocating sense of oppression—close-range, unprepared, and full of uncertainty...danger.
He reached out, without using any force, but with his cold, slender fingers—the same fingers that had nearly snapped her neck—he gently, with an almost eerie caution, touched the corner of her lips, which were stained with blood.
What I felt through my fingertips was a warm, damp sensation with the smell of rust, and the fragile temperature of life slipping away.
Just as his fingertips were about to touch that bright red—
Mutation and regeneration!
He suddenly clutched his head, letting out a suppressed roar of pain! The ink and golden light that had just appeared in his eyes were once again suppressed by the surging crimson!
"No...get away...she's an illusion...she must be purified..." he growled incoherently, as if he were fighting against another consciousness within him.
However, the fingertips that had touched her blood seemed to retain some indelible mark. A faint trace of energy, carrying the breath of her life and the fluctuations of her soul, quietly flowed from his fingertips into his body, merging into the fiercely battling inner demons and his primordial consciousness...
He suddenly raised his head and looked at Su Nian again.
In those blood-red eyes, madness remained, but at the deepest part of that madness, something was different.
It was a kind of... a thicker, more obsessive, dark desire that seemed to want to completely dissect and possess her from soul to existence.
The murderous intent did not disappear; instead, it transformed into something else... something even more terrifying.
He no longer tried to kill her immediately.
Instead, he reached out and scooped her up from the ground, as if seizing a trophy, holding her tightly in his arms. The force was so great that it almost broke her already severely injured body.
"No matter who you are..." His hot, demonic breath brushed against her ear, his voice low and dangerous, like a whisper from the abyss, "Since you've piqued my 'interest'..."
"Don't even think about... disappearing so easily again."
After saying that, he held her in his arms, transformed into a streak of crimson and moon-white light, and rushed out of the messy bedroom, heading towards the core of the highest peak of Qingyun Mountain, where the demonic energy was most intense—his cave!
Su Nian was held tightly in his arms, feeling the interplay of cold and hot body temperature, listening to the howling wind in her ears and his heavy, chaotic heartbeat, her heart filled with unknown fear.
Not kill them? Instead... take them back?
Is this... temporary safety, or... falling into another, even more inescapable prison?
The suspense of the story takes a sudden turn—the male protagonist's murderous intent transforms into a more dangerous "interest" and possessiveness due to the unexpected appearance of the "Heart Sword" and soul imprint. The female protagonist is severely injured and kidnapped, about to be taken to the lair where the male protagonist's inner demons reside. What fate awaits her? All will be revealed in the next chapter.
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